10 Stats to Help Marketers Reach Tweens, Teens, and Young Adults

By Peter Roesler

President, Web Marketing Pros

One of the powers of branding is that brand preference sticks with consumers for a long time. Marketers who are able to catch the attention of younger consumers can find themselves with a customer for life if they treat them right. Unfortunately, reaching teens isn’t something marketers are terribly good at. By the time you’re old enough to be a marketer, you’re pretty far removed from the teenage mindset. Thankfully, we have statistics. Recent studies by Nielsen and other research teams have produced data that can help marketers. Here are 10 recent stats to help marketers reach tweens, teens and young adults.

The study also found that kids spent less time watching TV with adults as they grew older. According to the researchers, 54% of kids aged for 2-4 watch TV with adults, it’s 41% for kids age 5-7 and the rate drops to just under 30% of US kids by ages 8-17. This means marketers who are trying to reach parents by advertising on kids programs are reaching fewer adults as the kids age.

As one might expect from a generation on the go, most teens access the internet via mobile devices. Only 29% of US teens aged 14-17 use the internet via a desktop computer.

The Nielsen research also showed that teens still watch a lot of traditional television. According to the study, 95% of US children aged 2-17 watch over 20 hours of TV per week.

A report from L2 showed that teens make up a smaller percentage of Facebook’s audience than in the past. 5.4% of US Facebook users are between the ages of 13 and 17, down from 8.9% in 2011. However, it’s important to remember that this can easily be explained by the growth of Facebook with other demographics like older adults and seniors.

Though technology has changed much about adolescence, some things remain the same. Teens still love to go to the movies and they often go as a group. A Nielsen study found that 66% teens and young adults (12-24) usually go to the movies in groups of at least 3 people.

Teens and young adults are the future of businesses because the impressions they develop of a brand now will stick with them for years to come. It’s at these ages that people start establishing preferences for one brand over another, so using the above information to reach teens is vital for the success of certain kinds of products and brands.